Taken as a whole, Alnus acuminata is rare in cultivation, but all three subspecies are represented in several British collections and members of the group are cultivated in the San Francisco Bay Area botanical gardens. Subsp. acuminata is perhaps the least commonly grown, reflecting its distribution away from the normal haunts of temperate dendrologists. At Stone Lane Gardens an 11 m specimen from the Tucuman area of northern Argentina is doing well, although it is probably a little too heavily shaded for optimal growth. It has a good straight trunk (11 cm dbh, TROBI), with dark brown bark. TROBI records other specimens at Bute Park in Cardiff, Glamorgan, and at Batsford Park, Gloucestershire. Adjacent to the tree at Stone Lane Farm is a specimen of what is probably subsp. glabrata from Mexico, again doing well, at 7 m, despite the shade. It is also cultivated at Tregrehan. Subsp. arguta is the most frequently grown of the three, probably mostly from Mexican plants although there is a specimen of Guatemalan origin at the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley. The tallest specimen recorded in Britain was 11 m at Borde Hill, West Sussex in 1962, but in recent years 9 m specimens have been measured at both Wakehurst Place and Westonbirt (TROBI). Despite its southern origins, A. acuminata seems to have retained many of the hardiness genes associated with more northerly alders, but a warm place would seem to be advisable, and there seems to be some variation between the taxa. At Blagdon, for example, subsp. glabrata has proved to be hardier than subsp. arguta (M. Ridley, collection notes). Its principal interest in horticulture is its biogeography, as the tree and its foliage are not particularly attractive, though the male catkins are showy.